GOV310 – In The News: A look at national politics through the eyes of Texas, April 13, 2016

In the news.

Welcome to IN THE News are American and Texas government. I’m Eric McDaniel. And I’m Jim Henson. Well, we’re

back for another week. And again, we’re going to start off with the thing that’s the big buzz and that’s the primaries.

And so if you look at right now the delegate count, it’s clear that Donald Trump is in the lead.

However, Ted Cruz is catching up to him as Ted Cruz won several primaries and caucuses.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has the lead. But again, Bernie Sanders is catching up to her by winning

several primaries and several caucuses. Now, it’s important to note is that these are in smaller states.

So while they keep talking about the, you know, winning four in a row, well, you’re winning for small

states in a row. I think Trump won American Samoa,

which really is in a lot of delegates. So it’s it’s problematic the way they talked about the number of states

won because the states are weighted differently. And so it’s important enough that in the bigger

states that Trump and Clinton are doing better.

However, that Wisconsin loss is kind of when the big states that Trump did lose.

But the next big thing on the on the agenda is New York. New York.

We’re not going to sing. No, no, no, no. The big next big primaries in New York. It’s a it’s a significant

delegate haul. And New York is is very distinctive for having very hardball

politics. And then this is history of people going to New York and essentially

pandering for delegates. And so we’ve seen a lot of that in

in the last couple of weeks. On the Republican side, if you look at the polling,

Donald Trump way ahead. It’s his, you know, basically home turf for Donald Trump.

And, you know, if we go back one of the very early podcasts we did or newscasts

we did, we were talking about Ted Cruz kind of ragging on

New Yorkers about New York values. It was it was a play for cultural conservatives

like we talked about. It is kind of the anti urban, anti cosmopolitan vote in the Republican Party.

But right now, Ted Cruz is in chickens coming home to roost mode. Yeah. So

he went to the Bronx where he met with some leaders in the area. I think he actually

went and made some or that makes him holler. Somebody forget what he did.

Maybe it made some Montse. So you went out? He did. You did the whole thing. Think he ate a Rubin drink? Some

Snapple, you know, the things New York is normally do. But he. But there is

one instance in the Bronx where people actually shout at him, shout out, try to shut him down

in a restaurant in the Bronx. So it is clear that, you know, this New York values thing didn’t

work. Now, he was in New York when he did it. But there has been some level of support for him

in western New York. So he’s in New York City when he did that. But there has been some support for where in

western New York, things like that. If you actually have time as a video on The Washington Post,

which says, if any, if each of the five candidates or one of the boroughs, which one would it be? Hillary

got Manhattan, of course, Bernie got Brooklyn. And I believe Cruz got Queens.

Well, yeah. You know, the thing about the Cruz play in New York, western New York, you know, for

for people that don’t live in New York, I haven’t been there. You think about New York as being all New York City

in the same way that was being originally from California. People think, you know, California’s

basically the strip along the beach, western New York, upstate New York, much more conservative.

And you know, the plane in parts of New York City with the hollow

the hollow bread is looking for the conservative, more orthodox Jewish vote. Cruz

has been, you know, very, very pro, is real and trying to be the most pro-Israel person,

you know, really in the race. And so there is a play for Cruz in New York.

But as we saw in those poll numbers, it’s really not getting them any anywhere. And it really does

look like New York is is Trump’s to lose. And really, the question is, as we

go back to what you’re talking about in the first segment, to some degree, how big can Trump win in New York

in terms of the delegate count right now? A lot of this is we’ve talked about before, is about

is about hunting for delegates, which is why Cruz’s win in Colorado

got a bit of criticism. They were really focused on on playing within

the rules of the system, but playing very hard to maximize their delegate count. That’s worked for

Cruz in these smaller states. But New York is going to be a rough ride. And as we said in the last podcast,

as we go through these mid Atlantic states, places like Pennsylvania,

those are going to be rough states for Cruz, where they’re going to try to run up the delegate count in the rural

and non urban areas. But it’s going to be it’s going to be a tough. It’s gonna be a tough ride

for them. Yeah. And the pandering didn’t stop on isn’t just on the Republican side. You also see

on the Democratic side. So we have a real quick video want to show you about Hillary Clinton,

her attempt to win over New Yorkers 20. The outer burrows now

at the center of the presidential race. Three of the candidates visited parts of the city today,

but were they trying to sample our way of life or just simply pandering to give his Tony

a yellow breaks down the appearances? I just

am thrilled to have the time this year. She’s no doubt sincere, but she’d no doubt

prefer to have things wrapped up by now. Instead, Hillary Clinton needs to win big in her adopted

home state. I’m going to trust the voters of New York who know me and have

voted for me three times. She took a simply ride in the Bronx, perhaps to chide Bernie Sanders,

who told the Daily News he thought riders still use tokens. But when Clinton went to swipe

her metro card, she had to swipe again and again and again.

It happens, but seemed like an awkward moment that may cost her some street cred. That’s

right. Street cred. Yeah, that’s very hip now. I mean, one thing that hit us about that is that’s a local

New York City newscast. The CBS affiliate from New York. So there’s all you know, there

is this kind of mix dynamic where New Yorkers go, oh, they’re pandering.

Give me some more of that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they complain about it, but, you know, they expect that if you don’t pander, then,

you know, you get hosed. Yeah. But also in terms of street cred. So forget guess Bernie Sanders

is still using tokens, which means Bernie Sanders hasn’t been on the sub. But on the subway a long time. But

also what’s important to note is that while everybody’s fighting tooth and nail to get a ticket to

see Hamilton, Bernie Sanders, the man of the people, was able to take his wife to see it. So

it’s interesting that people haven’t attacked him for going out to see a Broadway show that everybody’s going out for when he talks

about the special privileges of the rich. Yeah, I mean, there’s probably something a little aspirational there since the HAMIILTON

play on Broadway is such a is such a hard ticket. Yeah. You know, but if you look at the numbers we see, Clinton

is in is in the lead. You know, Sanders, you know, about 40 percent.

But again, it’s important to note that this is a very important state that Hillary Clinton should be able to wrap

this up soon, but it’s going to drag off for a long period of time. And one of things that happens is when you drag

campaign out, basically everything gets just dredged up. And

and what’s going on right now is Hillary Clinton is getting in. The Clinton campaign made a few missteps in regards

to young issues like you to African-Americans. And we’ve talked a lot in here about

how one of the big advantages that the Clinton campaign has had is that Bernie Sanders has not

done well with important constituencies in the in the Democratic Party, particularly

blacks and Latinos. And yet the Clinton campaign really dredged up

some some some bad blood between the Clintons and African-American voters.

That goes back really to Bill Clinton’s presidency to some degree, not not to mention the Obama campaign.

So let’s up let’s let’s roll some some sand and then we’ll work on that.

Martin, I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders

who got 13 year old kid hopped up on crack and sent to the street

to murder other African-American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens.

She did.

Defending the people who called young people to go out and take guns, there was a 13

year old girl in Washington, D.C., who was planning her own body. How would you do?

That’s not true. Tell the truth. So

Bill got a little bit of a Southern preacher in. But this is our response to the 1984 crime

bill, which many people are linking to mass incarceration, specifically of African-Americans.

And this has been one of the one of the major issues. And, you know, Bill Clinton first, it should have

apologized and issued a full apology in terms of his response. And the problem he’s having here

is that the rhetoric he was using really goes back to the rhetoric that was used 20 years ago.

And Hillary Clinton was in trouble for when people brought up the rhetoric

that she knew. So in 1996, she made a statement there. Are we talking about the crime

bill, the need for the crime bill? They are often the kinds of kids that are that are called superpredators. So she’s

talking about children in this case. So no conscious, no empathy. We can talk about how they

ended up that way. But first we have to bring them to heel. And so the bring them to heel park the

superpredators and the bring them to heel parties where people really got upset because the idea

here is we have these used children. And by calling them super predators, you’re justifying Barry Haas

tactics in terms of dealing with them that bring them to heel, almost treats them, treats them

as if they’re animals. And so because of this, now, Hillary Clinton has apologized, should not abuse

that language. But the problem is, when she thought she got over, that Bill Clinton comes in

and basically use the same language again of like, you know, they are these these extremely violent people in your communities,

things of that nature further as a way to defend it. He said, you know, your black leaders, which.

Oh, yes, it was you people. And, oh, it been so much better. Not really.

But, you know, Lisa didn’t say you people, I guess is the good thing is that you’re black leaders support of this. But however,

there’s been a lot of talk about this. But yes, there were black leaders in support of

many black leaders did support harsher sentencing. But in addition to that, they wanted

jobs programs. They wanted reinvestment in these communities in order to have employment,

things of that nature. The problem is they get the harsh punishment, not the other part. And when Bill

Clinton other said we supported this like, no, no, we supported part of this. There’s another part that

we wanted that you didn’t hear about. And so there’s a piece in New York Times today which talks about selective hearing on

the part of the Clinton administration when it comes to this. And so one of the big pushes

here is that, yes, we wanted to do something about the crime, but then we want to do something to make sure to alleviate

these communities, things that things of that nature, specifically jobs. And again, as research is shown, when

jobs go away, crime goes up. When jobs come in, crime goes down. And so this

has been really one of the big, big problems they’ve had. So even after this,

Bill Clinton apologized, they found another way to step into it. And so we’ll run

this clip real quick. Sorry, Hillary. I was running on C.P.

Time. It’s not I don’t I don’t like jokes like that.

Cautious politician. All right. So as you see

here, this is a basic going back, a skip between Mayor Bill

de Blasio of New York City and Hillary Clinton. He has apologized for showing leyh says, I’m on C.P.

Time. Also referred to was Colored People Time, which is used as a reference for why people of color are not on time

or somewhat unprofessional. And the member of Hamilton, remember, the Hamilton

cast was blacks. And, you know, what is that? What are you talking about? I’m offended by that. Hillary Clinton has caused pilots cautious

politician time. Be truthful. It’s just a bad joke. At the end of

the day, it’s a bad joke. Everything all this is racist. This is a racially tinged. It was it was

basically a way to make a joke about to make a joke. And it just did

go try to. You know, it’s a failed attempt to be cool. And, you know, Bill de Blasio is not

going to have, you know, any future, I think, on stage. You know, his comic timing was

pretty off. I think to get away with that was going to have to be really perfectly delivered.

DB And grab a chance at it and not it didn’t work out that way.

You know, we’re talking about this and the Clintons, you know, kind of problems, recurring problems

and how they deal with the African-American bloc of voters in the Democratic Party. I’m wondering,

how much do you think Bill Clinton thought about and strategized that? Because for people that

have watched political history and and remember the Clinton campaign in the 90s,

there was immediate speculation by some people that, like, he knew exactly what he was doing and that

it was like a Sister Souljah moment all over again. And for people that don’t know about that, the Sister

Souljah movement, you know, she’s a rapper that made some inflammatory comments about

about the about shooting the police, shooting cops, I think in the early 90s

at a political event for Bill Clinton. And he immediately repudiated the comment. And it was widely

seen in the context of Bill Clinton being a centrist Democrat, taking the

opportunity to say in public that he wasn’t overly beholden

to black activists and took the black interest groups in the Democratic Party.

I I don’t think it was quite that strategic this time, but I don’t know. What do you

think? No, I think so. This is a soldier moment was was interest because he went out and

openly attacked. And again, her comments were on the heels of the L.A. riots. So it’s poor to put that in context.

So the idea of police brutality was important. You know, again, 24 years ago, as it is today,

today, I think it was he saw it as an attack on his legacy. I think what happened more recently, like, you

know, when they’re attacking her, they’re attacking him in attacking his legacy. But it also is lot people’s

stated. If there’s any guy who has to show publicly that he’s behind his wife, it’s Bill Clinton.

So any guy out there who owes his wife a lot. It’s Bill Clegg. So he

he made it. So part of it, he was they were attacking his legacy, but that he may be overzealous

in protecting his wife. All right. So elsewhere in the political system, it’s been a little while since

we checked in on the Supreme Court vacancy. We talked a bit about about Judge Scalia

passing. We talked about briefly. I think we at least mention that there was

a lot of political to and fro about the constitutionality and the politics of the constitutional rules

and whether President Obama should make an appointment or, you know, sort of make a nomination.

He nominated Merrick Garland, a well-known, well-respected, moderate

judge. I think we talked about how some senators had said in the past that they really

supported him, but now they don’t. But then now they they don’t. They want to wait

on this. The politics of that have kind of taken another turn. Yeah, it’s gotten real

because we actually had a few Republicans saying, no, we should. We should have the nomination. But they pulled

back. And so it’s looking like nothing may actually happen. Now, you can.

You can. I mean, the public is in support of going through with the nomination, but it’s like 60 40,

something like that. However, it looks like nothing’s going to be done, miss. This

could be problematic for the GOP in a general election. Not really clear. Could also be problematic for the senators

in their elections in the sense that people like, you know, Europe, you’re a living problem, are part

of the problem with Washington. You’ve seen Justice Roberts critique, critique this

behavior. And so you have this this interesting thing where clearly

they want to wait. Look, if we get our guy in, OK, we’re good. But the fear

is that if they don’t that, you know, Garland would have been the best that would have gotten.

Right. So the political play right now seems to be in the Senate that they’re going to wait.

So you do have some Republicans actually very quietly having meetings with Garland.

The White House is proceeding in a way that suggests that they just it’s just going to happen.

But what seems to be going on is that the Senate is going to wait. They’re going to

see if who wins the election. If Hillary Clinton wins on the assumption

that she would appoint somebody much more liberal and much more to the left than Garland based

on that. If it’s Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, less likely. But the operative assumption

is it will be Hillary Clinton that she would appoint somebody not only more liberal, but also younger.

And so this person, you know, Garland is, I believe, in his mid 60s or early to mid 60s.

And so just, you know, it’s insensitive. But to be indelicate, you know, he can only be on the court

so long in all possibility where Hillary Clinton could do something like what

what Ronald Reagan did with Anthony Scalia, who was in his 40s.

I think when he was appointed to the court, he sat on there for a long time. So the play seems to be

frozen in play. See what happens in the election. If the Democrats win, the gala will probably get a hearing.

Yeah. Yeah. So it’s it’s all a bit of a politics game and people just

don’t like this. How overtly political this this is playing out. But

this is this is one big issue is kind of some of can be simmering for a while and will factor in

to the senatorial races as well as the presidential election.

But another issue I want to talk about is somebody who kind of been brewing for a while

regards to women’s rights issues. And so we have a video to highlight that five

women filed a class action lawsuit against a New York state law that creates a so-called tampon tax.

The lawsuit filed on March 3rd protest against a tax exemption that protects products such as Rogaine,

adult diapers and dandruff shampoo, but not tampons and sanitary napkins in New York.

Items are considered. Medical products such as Drogin and Lip Balm are exempt from sales tax, but

feminine hygiene products or not? One of the plaintiffs, Margo SEABURG, said, quote, Menstruation

products are essential and it is time to acknowledge that access should depend on who can afford them.

Campaigns in several other states have been lost to fight against tax that affect personal hygiene products

differently from men and women. President Obama weighed in on the issue, saying, quote, I have no

idea why states will tax these as luxury items. I suspect it’s because men were making the laws

when those taxes were passed. All right. So here’s a big thing now.

That’s that’s been brewing for so to a large degree with the idea that Rogaine is not taxed.

And that surely that’s a luxury item, which seems somewhat problematic. Look, considering I’m a person with very little

hair left and would benefit from Rogaine, I will understand that that is a luxury,

whereas feminine hygiene products are a necessity. So this has become a really big issue

regardless. So you see that a lot of states do this. And so this is really a been a big push to

move this over. So you see Minnesota, Pennsylvania,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland. Don’t don’t have a tax

for that. But again, the majority of states do tax this. So this has become a very big issue. Certainly

talking about women’s rights and the fact that women have to pay a tax for something that is necessary

for them to have. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s it’s one of those issues that.

Gives you a kind of dramatic look at something that’s kind of mundane that, you know, in

the details of the tax code and in the very granular details of government

policy, you see political values and political positions invested in this. And

my suspicion is, is not going to go away. It’s going to it’s going to be something that we’re going to hear a lot more about going forward.

You’re seeing some protests on college campuses specifically. The argument is if you are for giving

away condoms or free shots beginning with feminine hygiene products. So that caused me to put feminine hygiene products in

bathrooms and certain multiple universes. I moved in that direction with the idea

being this is fairness. You know, this is a necessity for women. And so you should we

should help in that help in that regard. And I think, you know, the fact that Rogaine is not taxed

might be a sign of a gender bias in the creation of laws. And you’ll get as we’re talking

about gender equality, I just. Equal pay, but also equal equal match terms of spending is something

is gonna really come up to talk about the fact that women are overtaxed compared to men. There’s already been sumbitch shown

that women’s products are the women’s product with the same thing as a men’s product like razors.

All you do is you paint it pink and you charge a dollar more with argued areas. This clearly

is unfair, but this is one of the things that’s important. We’re talking about civil rights and

equality under the law that women are pointing out. Look, this is not an issue of issue

of equality. And again, as women, as women start pushing for more equality. But a lot of issues that many

people would not even think about are are coming forward. So we’re seeing the push on diapers for

being covered into welfare, things like that, because we’re we’re seeing more and more of the women’s that is more and

more of the issues that women face becoming being put to the forefront, which is a sign of movement towards equality

and the need to further advance equality. I would say two things. One

seems like a fair idea, too. I don’t think you ought to go to Rogaine. I like the look. Thank

you. Thank you. Well, I think my Barbara fought so freshly cut. That’s right. Shout out to Ronnie Jackson

on airport and Mainer got me looking good, Ronnie. But

that’s all we have for today. We hope you all have a good week. So long.

The government 310 in the News podcast is hosted by doctors Jim Hansen and Eric McDaniel

and is produced by the Liberal Arts i.g.’s Development Studio and the Department of Government and the College